Yesterday afternoon, Apple released new beta versions. We are talking about the third beta of iOS 16.1, tvOS 16.1 and watchOS 9.1, the tenth beta of iPadOS 16 and the ninth of macOS Ventura. Versions that are coming with very, very interesting new features. The oldest of them? Stage Manager extends beyond iPads with M1 chips.
October warming
The list of changes, being a third beta release, is minor, that’s true. But some of the changes are profound. Enough to justify that iPadOS 16 did not arrive with iOS 16, for example. Let’s review all the news:
- Stage Manager is coming to iPad Pro 2018 and 2020: Apple has gone beyond the iPad Pro M1 and iPad Air M1 and extended the use of Stage Manager to all iPad Pro models from 2018. For now, Apple has postponed the support for external displays in Stage Manager. A feature that, when it returns to development, should only come to iPads with M1.
- The wallpaper changes from the settings: In iOS 16, we can customize the lock screen with tons of wallpaper options. A process that in the first beta of iOS 16.1 has already become more intuitive and that now, in this third beta, adds the possibility of changing between background pairs from Settings> Wallpaper.
- Accessories include: As we approach the official launch of the Matter protocol for home automation accessories, the Settings app displays the Matter Accessories section. A section to add, configure and manage them.
- Advanced satellite SOS feature: which will arrive in November in the United States and Canada. A feature that we can already see in the code and that shows us some phrases that the system will use such as “The iPhone can try to use a satellite to send SMS to emergency services. When it’s safe , get out of the vehicle and follow the instructions on the iPhone” or “This friend sent you his location via satellite because he has no other network available.”
For the moment It is not known on what dates Apple manages to launch publicly these versions currently in beta. As for iPadOS 16, we would have to see some new hardware first. Material that we expected to see at an event in October, but may now arrive via a press release. In any case, the news arrives.
